Reviews of Wattpad's Relatively Unknown

Kurama91's "A Place I Call Home (SNK/AOT FanFic)"

Yes, the very first review is a Fanfiction of the increasingly popular Attack on Titan anime series...how original. Actually, all sarcasm aside and hopefully a tolerance for personal opinions, this fanfiction surprised me in a lot of ways. At first, the beginning seemed a tad cliche (when is anything original anymore honestly), but as I grew into it I found myself elated to find this piece was home to a unique and diverse set of characters and were original for the most part (more on that later). But enough with the needless rambling, let us begin.

Introduction:

---This work of Fanfiction follows the seemingly lovable, yet questionable, Sofia Yagner; a kindhearted, surface-level-innocent redhead, and the people and events that move around her. The story is set around the same time as the original Canon show begins, with the day Shinganshina was breached (technically a day or two prior, but essentially the same) and has thus far chronicled the fateful day that has been drilled into the minds of every AOT fan. To summarize what Kurama91, the rightful owner of the Fanfiction mentioned, said in the story's summary: 'Sofia had just graduated the 99th Trainee Corps and was returning to her home in Shinganshina, from which she had run away from four years earlier to join the military. After a series of disputes between her father, Sofia was exiled, in a sense, from her family and childhood home. Soon after, the Colossal Titan appeared, eventually leaving Shinganshina to ruin. After hearing word of this, Sofia found herself unable to reconcile, presuming her family to be long lost. Now, the girl yearns to find some way, whatever that may be, to bring herself at peace with the way things transpired.'

---As of now, the Fanfiction is still ongoing, but unfortunately has been put on hold by the author in order to focus on some of her other works, which have been rather neglected because of this story honestly. But moving on:

Thorough Review:

---In truth, reviewing and critiquing this story wouldn't do a justice to the author; that is, reviewing and critiquing it as a single story. I'm sure it sounds rather odd and unorthodox, but I could almost view this as two stories. For one simple reason is why I considered this: the author's writing over time changed dramatically, in both skill level and style. So much so, it were as if there were two different people writing this story. In my opinion, this change was for the better. At any rate, before I get into specifics of the author's technique and writing, perhaps the story itself should be reviewed.

---The story itself, as said in the Introduction, revolves around the lead protagonist, Sofia, who upon graduating visits her childhood home in Shinganshina before being sent off to join whichever military division she's chosen. I will say that, for an AOT fanfiction, the story is quite slow to get into the swing of things. With the original anime series, the story is quick to throw the audience and characters into the action, setting an already tense mood. This writer did not take that approach, and instead began with dialogue and character interaction, as opposed to relying on tense situations in attempt to draw the reader in, which I've seen in a good number of fanfictions of AOT. This approach can be a slight turn-off for most readers already familiar with how writings about AOT go, and thus difficult to draw the reader in. So I asked myself this when reflecting: "What drew me into this story? Why did I start reading and continue reading?"

After some thought, I came to two conclusions. Number one, and this may sound somewhat biased, but the writing and story seemed far more mature than a majority of the AOT fanfictions out there. Just as an example, I can't tell you how many times I've seen any form of OTP love interest fanfic or the infamous "Levi x Reader." In a sense, it was a relief to see a fanfiction that was comprised solely of original characters, at least those used by the author (there are several mentions of canon characters, but no dialogue is really exchanged and they do nothing that did not happen in the anime). The second reason partly coincides with the first: it provided a new and different vantage point to the story of AOT, while still allowing the original plot to exist.